The Project Gutenberg EBook of In a German Pension, by Katherine Mansfield

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Title: In a German Pension

Author: Katherine Mansfield

Posting Date: August 22, 2008 [EBook #1472]
Release Date: September, 1998

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN A GERMAN PENSION ***

Produced by Sue Asscher

IN A GERMAN PENSION

By Katherine Mansfield

Contents.

1. Germans at Meat.
2. The Baron.
3. The Sister of the Baroness.
4. Frau Fischer.
5. Frau Brechenmacher attends a Wedding.
6. The Modern Soul.
7. At Lehmann's.
8. The Luft Bad.
9. A Birthday.
10. The Child-Who-Was-Tired.
11. The Advanced Lady.
12. The Swing of the Pendulum.
13. A Blaze.

1. GERMANS AT MEAT.

Bread soup was placed upon the table. "Ah," said the Herr Rat, leaning
upon the table as he peered into the tureen, "that is what I need. My
'magen' has not been in order for several days. Bread soup, and just the
right consistency. I am a good cook myself"--he turned to me.

"How interesting," I said, attempting to infuse just the right amount of
enthusiasm into my voice.

"Oh yes--when one is not married it is necessary. As for me, I have had
all I wanted from women without marriage." He tucked his napkin into his
collar and blew upon his soup as he spoke. "Now at nine o'clock I make
myself an English breakfast, but not much. Four slices of bread, two
eggs, two slices of cold ham, one plate of soup, two cups of tea--that
is nothing to you."

He asserted the fact so vehemently that I had not the courage to refute
it.

All eyes were suddenly turned upon me. I felt I was bearing the burden
of the nation's preposterous breakfast--I who drank a cup of coffee
while buttoning my blouse in the morning.

"Nothing at all," cried Herr Hoffmann from Berlin. "Ach, when I was in
England in the morning I used to eat."

He turned up his eyes and his moustache, wiping the soup drippings from
his coat and waistcoat.

"Do they really eat so much?" asked Fraulein Stiegelauer. "Soup and
baker's bread and pig's flesh, and tea and coffee and ste